Well it’s February, Winter and extra chilly. We’re talking 2 winter coats, tights under jeans kinda chilly. Over the Winter we’ll still be growing broccoli, cauliflower, kale and brussels sprouts under the greenhouse but I need some enthusiasm for the greens in the Spring. It seems like just yesterday we were planting and picking the sugar snap peas, so that got me dreaming of Spring…
We always grow sugar snap peas twice a year, once in the Spring and once in the Fall. The issue is always getting them planted early enough so they could grow their full height before the enemy hits: frost. It’s about cheering on all the veggies to get growing before we have to protect them (and they go on their tropical but yet still chilly vacation under the greenhouse).
In this post I wanted to get you ready for sugar snap pea season because we need a little cheer in these dreary days. Maybe once the garden season starts and you are picking your sugar snap peas work will become really busy so you’ll have a hard time keeping up. Or maybe you’re at the grocery store and you see a great deal on Sugar Snap Peas and would like to stock up. I don’t really want to set time aside to blanch these peas and dry them, so I got to thinking about how well the bok choy freezes without blanching, could this be done for the peas? The answer is a big yes!
Steps to freeze sugar snap peas without blanching.
Step 1: Preferably don’t clean them. If you grow your own then you probably have no reason to wash them. If you have to, make sure you dry them completely.
Step 2: Destring each pea pod. This is what takes the most time. Make sure to remove strings on both sides.
Step 3: Cut each pea into 2 pieces.
Step 4: Put peas in a freezer bag and label it.
Step 5: Try to seal the bag as best as you can. I use the straw method which is inserting a straw into the bag and zipping it up to straw, sucking all the air out, quickly removing the straw and closing bag completely.
Now let’s start destringing these peas!
This is the longest part of the process, but once you get in a good destringing rhythm, you’ll be done in no time.
Now you’ll have a whole bunch of peas.
Cut each pea into 2 pieces.
Put them in a bag and suck the heck out of that air.
Close the bag and freeze them! They’re ready for you in the freezer whenever you need some peas!
Enjoy and freeze away!
Use these in vegetable dishes just like you’d use other frozen vegetables. They still have that nice crunch even after freezing them!